About Me

I’m a midwestern, forty-ish, SAHM of a spunky six-year-old named Jenna. My blog name comes from my background and training. We didn’t think I could have children because I have severe endometriosis, and had happily settled into the idea of being childless. I was in grad school on my way to a PhD in Clinical Psychology, specializing in children, when our pregnancy surprise happened. I had completed all my classwork and requirements, and was ABD (all but dissertation) and a 1-year internship away from the goal. When problems developed with the pregnancy leading to 3 months of bed-rest, I took a leave of absence from the program, intending to return after Jenna was born. When we learned the extent of her problems and the care she would require, I completely withdrew from the program to stay at home with her. It’s a decision I have never regretted.

So, I have a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and I “practice” every day with our own wonderful daughter. I can honestly say that parenting is the hardest job I have EVER done. It’s also the most joyous and rewarding job I’ve ever done, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. If you want to know more about me, you can go here, here, and here!

I love getting email and I read all my comments, so please feel free to share your own experiences, ideas, thoughts and feelings.

psychmamma1 (at) gmail (dot) com

Happy reading!

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15 responses to “About Me”

this is a nice blog.. I have read to my deepest… good job you have done.. well I am satheesh from chennai-india… actually the idea of having a baby is really good…. you know what.. you will really like that… u will know the real feeling of how we were brought up…I used to think.. how I have grown.. sometimes we are moody.. and may shout to our mother.. at that time it hurts her.. at that time she tackles the situation in a soother way.. that it doesn’t affect her child….. so to me..
MOTHER.. is something special.. She has to be cared.. and given respect..

I follow you on Twitter and I just popped over to view your site. What a touching story. It is amazing how motherhood changes us and makes us see what is really important :). After grad school my husband and I didn’t think we really wanted children. As I approached my late 30’s we figured we better do it or the chance would be gone. I never really liked children when I was younger and never really babysat :). After about a year I finally conceived only to lose him at 9weeks. We were devastated. We finally felt like we could do this parent thing, and it was taken away. So we spent another 4 yrs and several IVF and IUI treatments and finally conceived our son. He is 1 1/2 yrs old now. He is the absolute joy and love of our lives. I can’t imagine life without him. Since having him I can’t imagine not being with him every chance I can while he is still young. I work from home so that I can be with him. I never thought a “career” woman like me could be so ready to stay home and play with blocks. But I am and I do and I love it. It is the most difficult job I have ever had, as you mentioned!! No doubt about it. But it is the best job in the world. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else :).

pyschmama- you have great training for parenting! one of my good friends is a mental health specialist, and she helped me tremendously a couple months ago when both my boys were hitting rough periods developmentally. she likened two year olds to bi-polar individuals and 4 years olds to sufferers of panic and anxiety disorder. that put my guys’ behavior into a lot of perspective and i was able to brush off much of their daily conflicts as normal development that would eventually run it’s course. also helped me to emapathize with them more when their emotions were so turbulent. it’s funny, i can get my kids to eat brussles sprouts but teaching them to play without hitting and yelling is still something we work on daily. i reckon i’ll still be finding my wings when they boys are grown and married, ha!

It’s serendipitous that I found you. I’m a late-thirties (can’t believe I have to admit that!), mid-western mother of 2 boys, ages 8 and 10. I never finished school but had a very successful career in the mortgage industry for over 15 years. I wasn’t happy in that profession, but happy…enough for the time. When the industry tanked I found myself unemployed with virtually no skills marketable in any other industry. I decided to go back to school…as a Psych major! I’m still in the undergrad stage but my goal, as yours was, a PsyD.

Jenny

February 25, 2009 at 11:19 am

When I read this article I thought of Jenna with her feeding tube and not wanting to eat solids. I don’t know if it will help. Best of luck 🙂

Hi,
Thanks for sharing your therapy techniques.
How VERY helpful of you!
I am going to try some of them on my daughter tomorrow!

Kindly,
Shoshana

Dawn

March 13, 2013 at 11:35 pm

Hello! Could you please let me know if your homemade tube feedings worked for your daughter? My daughter (5 years old) has been on tube feedings since 11 months of age. She medical conditions include a congenital heart disease, growth failure, weak immune system, chronic sinus problems, a lung disease. She has been evaluated by three different medical facilities and none of them have been able to tell us why she doesn’t appear to have an appetite. We really want to stop giving her synthetic food but do not know what else to give her. Any suggestions would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I’m not sure who, but someone emailed me about tube feeding from this blog. Dawn? was it you? Or was it the person that runs this blog?
Sorry, the email was very confusing.
please email me at shoshana@tovasibony.com.au if you would like to talk about tube feeding/weaning things.
Thanks heaps.
Shoshana.

I think I have figured it out.
I was emailed because someone commented on a thread I had commented in ?
RIght… I get it..
well the offer still stands.. http://www.tovasibony.com.au if you want to talk tube feeding.

Hello, I just received a recipe from our nutritionist to make my daughters formula homemade! I’m so excited to get her started. I’ve puréed her foods for 13 years, and always had the goal that she’d not need a feeding tube, but that goal wasn’t reached as she needed a Nissen fundoplycation and G tube surgery placed in the fall of 2013. She’s been strictly pump fed until a month ago and we have been trying different forms of bolus feeds. I would like to keep in touch with you:-)